Feted as an innovative and
irreverent radio DJ, Kenny Everett had mixed success transferring his inimitable brand of
comedy to television before breaking through with this Thames Television vehicle. Written with Barry Cryer and Ray Cameron,
The Kenny Everett Video Show was a characteristically hyperactive vehicle for
Everett's talents, employing all manner of studio trickery and experiments with
television form - including Everett sticking his unwanted chewing gum on the
camera lens and inviting contributions from the production crew - with the
supremely confident host appearing in front of a bank of television screens.

Everett created a host of memorable characters, among them Angry of Mayfair,
a puritan city gent who wore stockings and suspenders; ill-mannered greaser Sid
Snot; lascivious Frenchman Marcel Wave; and the generously-endowed (and, of
course, bearded) movie siren Cupid Stunt, prone to losing her clothes "in the
best possible taste". A popular transfer from radio was the space serial Captain
Kremmen, now in animated form, with the voices of the space-age superhero and
his assistants - dumb blonde Carla, scientist Gitfinger and crew member Gonad -
all supplied by Everett. Made by Cosgrove Hall Productions, the cartoon spawned
the short film Kremmen - The Movie (d. John Sunderland), shown in cinemas in
1980. By series four, Kremmen was live action, with Anna Dawson playing
Carla.

Musical guests played a large part: initially mainstream - The Moody Blues
and Dean Friedman - but increasingly New Wave, including Squeeze and Elvis
Costello. Everett attracted big names to join the studio mayhem; Freddie Mercury
wrestled with Sid Snot, David Bowie was chased around the set by Angry of
Mayfair and Cliff Richard was suspended by his wrists as 'a Cliff hanger'. Pop
stars were also sent up in sketches, with an Elton John whose glasses swelled to
gargantuan proportions and a Rod Stewart whose backside inflated and ultimately
floated him off the screen.

Despite the interventions of grandiose overseer Lord Thames, Everett's
cheekiness was irrepressible, as he delighted in a weekly dose of 'naughty bits'
in the form of Arlene Phillips' dancers Hot Gossip, whose provocative gyrations
drew protests from the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association. Regardless,
the series was a huge hit, and even won a BAFTA in 1978. After four series, the
last renamed the Kenny Everett Video Cassette, Everett moved the format to the
BBC under the more conservative title The Kenny Everett Television Show
(1981-88).